The proposed invention concerns the drive units of marine vessels such as ships or submarines, as well as oil platforms.
These drive units, also known as “propulsion oriented drive” or “POD”, typically include a mobile housing mounted with a pivot link to a hull of a marine vessel. The hull element may be placed at the stern or prow of a ship.
Due to strong currents, the propeller of the ship's drive unit can inadvertently damage the drive shaft's roller bearing of the drive unit. Furthermore, in strong currents, it may be necessary to brake, or block, the drive shaft of the drive unit propeller.
Additionally, if one of the propulsion units fails, the drive shaft rotation of the failed drive unit must be blocked. This allows the ship to return to port using the working drive unit, preventing further damage to the defective drive unit.
Drive units used for ice-breaking have an additional axial dimension constraint, which means it is necessary for the system to provide both the braking and blocking of the drive shaft of a drive unit, without increasing its axial dimension.